Sony announces GPS for photo markingBy
Mike Tomkins(Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 20:41 EDT)Sony Electronics has today announced a new GPS device intended to mark locations on images taken with the company's digital camera models.The Sony GPS-CS1 is a tiny two ounce, twelve channel GPS device that clips to a belt loop or backpack with an included carabiner clip. The device doesn't connect to a camera, but instead is left running throughout your day, recording the current location at 15 second intervals. The built-in 31MB of memory will store up to 15 days of locations, and the device draws power from a single AA battery which will give up to 10 hours of continuous use.

Once you return to your home or office, you offload your photos. The included GPS Image Tracker software then combines the GPS data and the times recorded in the EXIF header of each image, figuring out the location that corresponds to the time of each image. This is in turn recorded in the image header, and use the Picture Motion Browser software that is bundled with current Sony digital cameras and camcorders to browse your images by location.

The Sony GPS-CS1 GPS device will ship next month, priced at $150.

Original Source Press Release:

Organize Photos By 'Where' Not 'When' With Global Positioning System For Sony Digital Cameras

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 1, 2006 - Sony Electronics today announced a GPS device that puts your pictures on the map.

Using time and location recordings from Sony's GPS-CS1 GPS device and the time stamp from a Sony digital still camera or camcorder, photo buffs can plot their digital images to a map and pinpoint exactly where they've been.

The 12-channel GPS unit is 3-½ inches long, weighs two ounces, and is sold with a carabineer to easily attach to a backpack or a belt loop.

"Whether you're traveling to the Seven Wonders of the World, or just wondering where to buy your next house, our new GPS device can track your journey," said David Johns, product manager for digital camera accessories at Sony Electronics. "Adding a geographic context to your digital images helps organize and make use of your photos in entirely new ways."

To arrange your pictures geographically, import the logged data from the GPS device, using the supplied USB cable, and then download the digital images to a computer. The supplied GPS Image Tracker software synchronizes the images on your digital camera with the latitude, longitude and time readings from the GPS-CS1 device.

Once synchronized, your photos can become virtual push pins on an online map by activating the Picture Motion Browser software bundled with the latest Sony cameras and camcorders released after July. You can easily add new photos and coordinates to the mapping web site, courtesy of Google Maps, and showcase years of globe-trotting.

The GPS-CS1 GPS device will be available next month for about $150 at sonystyle.com, at Sony Style® retail stores (www.sonystyle.com/retail), and at authorized dealers nationwide.